William Herschel Conducts Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFG HIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZA 2B2C2D2E2F2G2 H2I2YJ2K2JIGL2M2I2N2 O2P2C2Q2R2S2T2 JU2V2W2X2VY2Z2A3MB3C 3LG2D3M2E3F3G3E2O2H3 A2A2I3 AJ3VK3L3IM3A3N3O3P3G 2E3H3Q3R3MS3T3VM2U3O 2V3U3S2W3X3Y3U3U3Z3U 3U3A4U3U3W3B4Z3U3SU3 Z3S3C4O2U3D3V U3U3R2M2D4S3E4D4VQF4 Z3Z3LQQZ3U3U3QF4S3QQ QG4H4Z3D3QZ3VU3D3K3U 3QI4QQJ4D3K4L4M4F4Z3 F4QU3QZ3C4U3QU3VQ

Was it a dream that crowded concert roomA
In Bath that sea of ruffles and laced coatsB
And William Herschel in his powdered wigC
Waiting upon the platform to conductD
His choir and Linley's orchestra He stoodE
Tapping his music rest lost in his own thoughtsF
And did I hear or dream them all were mineG
-
My periwig's askew my ruffle stainedH
With grease from my new telescopeI
Ach to morrowJ
How Caroline will be vexed although she growsK
Almost as bad as I who cannot leaveL
My work shop for one eveningM
I must giveN
One last recital at St Margaret'sO
And then farewell to musicP
Who can leadQ
Two lives at onceR
Yet it has taught me muchS
Thrown curious lights upon our world to passT
From one life to another Much that I tookU
For substance turns to shadow I shall seeV
No throngs like this again wring no more praiseW
Out of their hearts forego that instant joyX
Let those who have not known it count it vainY
When human souls at once respond to yoursZ
Here on the brink of fortune and of fameA2
As men account these things the moment comesB2
When I must choose between them and the starsC2
And I have chosenD2
Handel good old friendE2
We part to night Hereafter I must watchF2
That other wand to which the worlds keep timeG2
-
What has decided me That marvelous nightH2
When ah how difficult it will be to guideI2
With all these wonders whirling through my brainY
After a Pump room concert I came homeJ2
Hot foot out of the fluttering sea of fansK2
Coquelicot ribboned belles and periwigged beauxJ
To my Newtonian telescopeI
The designG
Was his but more than half the joy my ownL2
Because it was the work of my own handM2
A new one with an eye six inches wideI2
Better than even the best that Newton madeN2
Then as I turned it on the GeminiO2
And the deep stillness of those constant lightsP2
Castor and Pollux lucid pilot starsC2
Began to calm the fever of my bloodQ2
I saw O first of all mankind I sawR2
The disk of my new planet gliding thereS2
Beyond our tumults in that realm of peaceT2
-
What will they christen it Ach not Herschel noJ
Nor Georgium Sidus as I once proposedU2
Although he scarce could lose it as he lostV2
That world in 'seventy sixW2
Indeed so farX2
From trying to tax it he has granted meV
How much two hundred golden pounds a yearY2
In the great name of science half the costZ2
Of one state coach with all those worlds to winA3
Well well we must be grateful This mad kingM
Has done far more than all the worldly wiseB3
Who'll charge even this to madnessC3
I believeL
One day he'll have me pardoned for that crimeG2
When I escaped deserted some would sayD3
From those drill sergeants in my native landM2
Deserted drill for music as I nowE3
Desert my music for the orchestral spheresF3
No This new planet is only new to manG3
His majesty has done much Yet as my friendE2
Declared last night Never did monarch buyO2
Honour so cheaply and he has not bought itH3
I think that it should bear some ancient nameA2
And wear it like a crown some deep dark nameA2
Like Uranus known to remoter godsI3
-
How strange it seems this buzzing concert roomA
There's Doctor Burney bowing and behind himJ3
His fox eyed daughter FannyV
Is it a dreamK3
These crowding midgets dense as clustering beesL3
In some great bee skepI
Now as I lift my wandM3
A silence grips them and the strings beginA3
Throbbing The faint lights flicker in gusts of soundN3
Before me glimmering like a crescent moonO3
The dim half circle of the choir awaitsP3
Its own appointed timeG2
Beside me nowE3
Watching my wand plump and immaculateH3
From buckled shoes to that white bunch of laceQ3
Under his chin the midget tenor risesR3
Music in hand a linnet and a kingM
The bullfinch bass that other emperorS3
Leans back indifferently and clears his throatT3
As if to say This prelude leads to MeV
While on their own proud thrones on either handM2
The sumptuously bosomed midget queensU3
Contralto and soprano jealously eyeO2
Each other's plumageV3
Round me the music throbsU3
With an immortal passion I grow awareS2
Of an appalling mystery We this throngW3
Of midgets playing listening tense and stillX3
Are sailing on a midget ball of dustY3
We call our planet will have sailed through spaceU3
Ten thousand leagues before this music endsU3
What does it mean Oh God what can it meanZ3
This weird hushed ant hill with a thousand eyesU3
These midget periwigs all those little blursU3
Tier over tier of faces masks of fleshA4
Corruptible hiding each its hopes and dreamsU3
Its tragi comic dreamsU3
And all this throngW3
Will be forgotten mixed with dust crushed outB4
Before this book of music is outwornZ3
Or that tall organ crumbles ViolinsU3
Outlast their players Other hands may touchS
That harpsichord but ere this planet makesU3
Another threescore journeys round its sunZ3
These breathing listeners will have vanished WhitherS3
I watch my moving hands and they grow strangeC4
What is it moves this body What am IO2
How came I here a ghost to hear that voiceU3
Of infinite compassion far awayD3
Above the throbbing strings hark Comfort yeV
-
If music lead us to a cry like thisU3
I think I shall not lose it in the skiesU3
I do but follow its own secret lawR2
As long ago I sought to understandM2
Its golden mathematics taught myselfD4
The way to lay one stone upon anotherS3
Before I dared to dream that I might buildE4
My Holy City of Song I gave myselfD4
To all its branches How they stared at meV
Those men of sensibility when I saidQ
That algebra conic sections fluxions allF4
Pertained to music Let them stare againZ3
Old Kepler knew by instinct what I nowZ3
Desire to learn I have resolved to leaveL
No tract of heaven unvisitedQ
To nightQ
The music carries me back to it againZ3
I see beyond this island universeU3
Beyond our sun and all those other sunsU3
That throng the Milky Way far far beyondQ
A thousand little wisps faint nebulaeF4
Luminous fans and milky streaks of fireS3
Some like soft brushes of electric mistQ
Streaming from one bright point others that spreadQ
And branch like growing systems others discreteQ
Keen ripe with stars in clusters others drawn backG4
By central forces into one dense deathH4
Thence to be kindled into fire rebornZ3
And scattered abroad once more in a delicate sprayD3
Faint as the mist by one bright dewdrop breathedQ
At dawn and yet a universe like our ownZ3
Each wisp a universe a vast galaxyV
Wide as our night of starsU3
The Milky WayD3
In which our sun is drowned to these would seemK3
Less than to us their faintest drift of hazeU3
Yet we who are borne on one dark grain of dustQ
Around one indistinguishable sparkI4
Of star mist lost in one lost feather of lightQ
Can by the strength of our own thought ascendQ
Through universe after universe trace their growthJ4
Through boundless time their glory their decayD3
And on the invisible road of law more firmK4
Than granite range through all their length and breadthL4
Their height and depth past present and to comeM4
So those who follow the great Work master's lawF4
From small things up to great may one day learnZ3
The structure of the heavens discern the wholeF4
Within the part as men through Love see GodQ
Oh holy night deep night of stars whose peaceU3
Descends upon the troubled mind like dewQ
Healing it with the sense of that pure reignZ3
Of constant law enduring through all changeC4
Shall I not one day after faithful yearsU3
Find that thy heavens are built on music tooQ
And hear once more above thy throbbing worldsU3
This voice of all compassion Comfort yeV
Yes comfort ye my people saith your GodQ

Alfred Noyes



Rate:
(1)



Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme

Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
<< Galileo Poem Next Poem


Write your comment about William Herschel Conducts poem by Alfred Noyes


 

Recent Interactions*

This poem was read 9 times,

This poem was added to the favorite list by 0 members,

This poem was voted by 0 members.

(* Interactions only in the last 7 days)

New Poems

Popular Poets